Summary of the International workshop on “Effects of air pollution and climate extremes on agriculture and health in South Asia” - Integrating Climate Action with Air Action in Indian Cities

Abstract

The CiXPAG project co-organized a workshop in Delhi in November 2019, on the “Effects of air pollution and climate extremes on agriculture and health in South Asia”, together with local partners Society for Environment Education & Development (SEED) and Clean Air Asia (CAA). The workshop brought together experts from research and relevant stakeholders to discuss the state-of-knowledge and awareness of combined pollution and climate change impacts on agriculture, and to discuss gaps of knowledge and a roadmap ahead for science, policy and implementation. Some key points brought forward are the need to increase monitoring of ozone, better understand the links between urban and rural areas (both in terms of pollution transport, but also in socio-economic terms), use “airshed-” rather than local approaches for mitigation, to tailor dose-response curves specifically for Indian crop varieties, and to model impacts of different stresses such as heat, water, irrigation and ozone, to identify and prioritize which stresses are most urgent to address. Both urgency, adaptation besides mitigation, and socio-economic and political context for adaptation were pointed out as key issues.